Yesterday, there was an interesting feature on the BBC about cyclists. They’re regularly being shoved off the road or injured, but other motorists have little sympathy for them and insurance companies don’t believe them. Their complaints fall on deaf ears. Their cuts and bruises are put down to their own stupidity.
So some cyclists have taken to wearing cameras in their helmets.
It’s worked. The footage can be used to name and shame guilty motorists who’ve squashed them. They can also use it in legal action against motorists suffering road rage. Further, a lawyer pointed out that it safeguards against the often differing accounts of eye witnesses.
Ben Parker, a cyclist featured on the report, said that he didn’t want it to become a case of ‘us versus them,’ and it would be nice if the evidence weren’t needed at all.
Sure, it would be nice not to need hard evidence, but allowing someone to walk in your shoes is the quickest way to unite people. The cameras enable everyone to see what the cyclist goes through. When the car on the film pulled out and smashed into the bike – I bet everybody watching flinched. I know I did. When the tanker scraped past the bike on a roundabout, narrowly avoiding pulling the rider under the wheels, I wanted to yell along with the terrified guy in trouble.
Likewise, this is why we need to record our experiences of bullying. And as far as possible, we need to be as unemotional as possible in our recording of it too. We need to give the facts and leave it there. Others will empathise of their own accord. We should allow them to consider what they might feel if this was their experience.
I’m sure that the motorists who watched the footage will be a little more considerate. Perhaps with the same considered use of shared experience in respect of workplace bullying, employers and the legal system might at some point follow suit.
Best wishes
BBTB x
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Good idea with camera's, if I had a camera and it was aired it could be the shocker of the decade, as everyone is rude, selfish, ignorant & loud, the bosses are using double standards with spitefull demands in front of everyone & everyone talks behind everyone's back & no one can do a single thing because everyone is to scared.
There needs to a show on all of this urgently.
It can be hard not to be sensitive when sometimes that's the way one is wired. People are dropping like pins in this workplace and nobody cares, very sad state of affairs & It will get worse, no question about it.
Yes, when you think about it, it's the old adage "The camera doesn't lie".
In most cases, bullies are completely unaware of how they are behaving. If they were to see themselves on camera, I'm sure many would be horrified. They'd still try and justify it, of course, but I think in most cases it would cause real change.
x
Post a Comment